{"id":50651,"date":"2025-08-06T23:29:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T23:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/50651\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T23:29:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T23:29:07","slug":"a-long-time-coming-canadian-artists-applaud-first-ever-latin-category-in-2026-juno-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/50651\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A long time coming,\u2019 Canadian artists applaud first-ever Latin category in 2026 Juno Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Juno Awards is getting a new Latin category starting next year, and the historic addition is being celebrated by Latin American Canadians in the music industry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) announced<\/a> its new Latin Music Recording of the Year category for the 2026 JUNO Awards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new category embraces contributions from Latin artists to Canadian music across all languages and genres, and is part of an effort to reflect Canada\u2019s multicultural nature and modern music scene, and support inclusivity, according to the academy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new category is a milestone for the Canadian music industry. It\u2019s a well-deserved recognition of the incredible talent, diversity, and cultural richness that Latin music brings to the Canadian soundscape,\u201d Argentine-Canadian music producer and Co-Chair of the category, Mart\u00edn A\u00f1\u00f3n said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To qualify for the categories, submitted recordings must show at least 50 per cent of Latin influence, including through style, structure, lyrics with those having to be at least 50 per cent in Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Indigenous or African dialects.<\/p>\n

It is permitted for non-Canadian artists to contribute to recordings in the category, but to qualify for the award, its main vocal artist must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although crossover categories are allowed in the Junos, music submitted under the Latin Music Recording will not qualify for the Global Music Album of the Year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As part of its recently-unveiled updates, CARAS also announced some changes to its Rap categories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Starting next year, submissions to the Rap Album\/EP of the Year and Rap Single of the Year, must feature vocalists who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents, which CARAS hopes will support the homegrown music scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited about the changes coming to the Rap Category and proud to be part of a shift that better reflects the energy and evolution of the genre,\u201d Co-Chairs of the Rap Committees, Marlon Wilson and Ricardo Chung said in the statement.<\/p>\n

In 2024, the Junos added a South Asian music category, and in 2022 it divided the Indigenous category into contemporary and traditional Indigenous artists.<\/p>\n

The Latin music category announcement comes less than a year after CARAS revealed plans to axe some of its existing categories, including reggae recording, children\u2019s album, Christian\/gospel album and international album of the year.<\/p>\n

The move received backlash from Canadian musicians and industry executives, prompting the academy to reverse its plan and keep the categories.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

LATINO ARTISTS AND MUSIC EXPERT WEIGH IN<\/p>\n

Colombian-Canadian musician and Junos nominee Roberto L\u00f3pez only had one word to describe his reaction over the new category: \u201cFinally!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to him, when he released his first professional album in 2005, the Grammy Awards already had its first Latin category, and since then he has watched Latin music grow until it gained more recognition in Canada, which is reflected in the Junos\u2019 announcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLatin music is very strong worldwide. In the past 20 years, there has been a global growth of Latin music, [that] is not only happening here in Canada, it\u2019s happening worldwide. So, being able to have that category to recognize the importance and the value of Latin music in Canada, and from Canada towards the rest of the world, I think it\u2019s a great step,\u201d he told Now Toronto on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Similarly, Juno-Awarded, Cuban-Canadian artist Alex Cuba applauds the change and says it\u2019s\u00a0 long-awaited.<\/p>\n

The artist recalled that more than 10 years ago he was helping Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado with her Latin album, which was No.1 across the world, but didn\u2019t win the Junos because it wouldn\u2019t fit in any categories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s put it this way: it\u2019s been a long time coming, and we\u2019ve been pretty much fighting for this for a while. So, I was so happy and excited when I heard the news,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, with the Latino population having tripled<\/a> in Canada over the past 25 years, according to Statistics Canada, the artists add that Latin music\u2019s influence in the country has also grown.<\/p>\n

TMU Professional Music Composition Professor Felipe T\u00e9llez tells Now Toronto that even though some awards don\u2019t offer monetary compensation to winning artists, the award itself can mean an important public recognition of their work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He says a new category focused on Latin music could signify to many artists in Canada that their identities are seen and important.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sends a message to artists that have been established, but also people who are coming up now as younger artists. And it just says, \u2018You can be you, it\u2019s not a barrier,\u2019\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LATIN ROOTS IN CANADIAN MUSIC<\/p>\n

T\u00e9llez says that as an artist, his roots are certainly reflected in his music, which he thinks also influences other Latino artists in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanadian music can be so many things, right? But now, because of this, we get to be Canadian and Latin without having to compromise our identities, right? And that\u2019s huge,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, L\u00f3pez explains that artists may identify themselves as both Latino and Canadian, which the new category is able to encompass.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you voice your artistic identity with all those multiple identities? Because now you\u2019re Canadian, you\u2019re Colombian, but maybe you\u2019re Albertan, or you\u2019re Ontarian, or you\u2019re Quebecois, so all that influences how you express your music,\u201d he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But for Cuba, the great thing about this category is that it will allow Latino artists to also incorporate different music influences they come across in Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The artist, who was born and raised in Cuba for 25 years, says that his music will always reflect his roots, but his experience in Canada also has a great impact on his musical identity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a new energy into Latin music. From Latin music, mixing it with whatever is happening, whatever is happening in the air, whatever is in the air in Canada, and sending it that way, the result is something fresh and creative.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Submissions for the 55th Juno Awards close on Sep. 22, with the award ceremony taking place on Mar. 29 at the TD Coliseum in Hamilton.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Juno Awards is getting a new Latin category starting next year, and the historic addition is being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,34567,34568,34569,341],"class_list":["post-50651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-juno-awards","tag-latin-music","tag-latin-music-recording-of-the-year","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}